Book 5. Ramses is now 50; after bringing outstanding prosperity to Egypt, he could now have hoped to enjoy a serene old age. But as he strives to preserve peace the Hittite Emperor exhorts him to wed his daughter under the threat of a new war and the revengeful Libyans are rebelling. In his old age, the time has come for Ramses to meet his final enemy in the shade of the Western Acacia.